rv.s  O 


ADDRESS 

“SOME  PRESENT-DAY 
PROBLEMS” 

AT  THE 

Peterborough  Men’s  Club 

BY 

HOWARD  ELLIOTT 

Chairman  of  the  Board 
and  President  of 

THE  NEW  YORK,  NEW  HAVEN  AND  HARTFORD 
RAILROAD  COMPANY 

9 

TOWN  HALL,  PETERBORO,  N.  H. 

July  5,  1915 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/addresssomepreseOOelli 


Jl16  19  32 

| -v 

P • 


Some  time  ago  your  President,  Professor  Schofield, 
asked  me  to  make  a talk  to  yon  and  I accepted  his  invita- 
tion. My  family  have  passed  some  fifteen  summers  in 
this  beautiful  State  of  New  Hampshire,  and,  in  common 
with  many  others,  we  are  much  interested  in  its  welfare 
and  prosperity,  as  well  as  that  of  all  New  England.  At 
times  I was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  I could  he  with  you 
to-day,  because  of  business  duties;  but  I am  anxious  to  do 
all  I can  to  help  in  these  perplexing  times  and  in  the 
language  of  your  Constitution,  “to  promote  discussion  of 
questions  of  general  interest.” 

Standing  here  with  beautiful  hills  and  valleys,  forests 
and  lakes  about  us,  with  everywhere  evidences  of  peace, 
contentment  and  prosperity,  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  a 
large  part  of  the  civilized  world  is  in  a convulsion,  the 
results  of  which  no  one  can  foretell.  This  upheaval  in 
Europe  makes  it  important  for  the  patriotic  and  thought- 
ful citizens  of  the  United  States  to  make  sure  they  are 
doing  their  full  duty  to  their  country. 

Where  highways  cross  railroads  there  are  signs  which 
read  “Stop — Look — Listen!”  It  would  he  a good  plan 
for  our  Government  and  people  to  follow  this  advice  and 
“Stop”  to  take  account  of  national  assets  and  liabilities; 
to  “Look”  without  passion  and  prejudice  at  changes  and 
problems  that  will  affect  all  of  us  and  those  that  come 
after  us;  to  “Listen” — not  to  the  words  of  the  discon- 
tented, querulous  and  visionary  with  their  patent  medi- 
cine remedies  for  our  troubles,  but  rather  to  those  that 
have  exercised  patience,  courage,  loyalty,  industry  and 
resourcefulness  in  carrying  on  the  many  activities  of  this 
country. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-nine  years  ago  the  Liberty 
Bell  rang  out  the  news  that  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence had  been  signed  and  made  good  its  inscription, 
“Proclaim  liberty  throughout  the  land  to  all  the  inhab- 
itants thereof.” 


3 


The  Country’s  And  think  what  has  been  accomplished 
Wonderful  since  then!  From  thirteen  struggling 

Growth.  colonies  with  a scattered  but  sturdy  pop- 

ulation of  four  millions  we  have  become 
a united  nation  of  forty-eight  States  and  three  territories 
with  a population  of  one  hundred  millions.  Our  national 
wealth,  as  reported  in  1912,  was  $187,739,000,000,  and  it 
has  since  wonderfully  increased.  From  a feeble  and 
almost  broken  and  undeveloped  country,  we  have  become 
a world  power  and  the  wealthiest  on  earth.  The  predic- 
tions of  European  statesmen  a hundred  years  ago  that 
when  our  population  reached  the  one  hundred  million 
mark  the  disintegration  of  the  Republic  would  begin  are 
not  true.  The  watchwords  of  the  nation,  in  the  words  of 
Lincoln,  still  are:  “With  malice  toward  none;  with  char- 
ity for  all;  with  firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to 
see  the  right.”  We  are  to  strive  on  and  on  to  build  up 
our  country  as  the  bulwark  of  civilization,  progress  and 
humanity. 

In  the  history  of  the  world  there  has  been  some  one 
nation  to  take  the  lead  and  influence  civilization  for  all 
time.  The  world  has  seen  Egypt,  Greece,  Rome,  Spain, 
France,  England  all  most  potential  in  shaping  a course 
that  mankind  has  followed.  Now  the  finger  of  destiny 
points  to  the  United  States  as  the  one  country  to  make  its 
mark  on  civilization  for  all  time.  Are  we  equal  to  the 
task?  I believe  we  are  if  we  turn  our  minds  to  it  and 
really  try;  but  there  are  many  things  to  consider  and 
many  pitfalls  to  avoid.  New  Hampshire  and  New  Eng- 
land have  done  great  work  in  upbuilding  the  nation,  and 
they  should  and  can  do  more.  It  may,  therefore,  be  of 
interest  to  recall  a little  of  the  history  of  this  State. 


New  Hampshire’s  New  Hampshire  got  its  name  because 
Part  in  Captain  John  Mason,  one  of  the  two  orig- 

Our  Wars.  inal  proprietors  who  received  the  grant  of 

the  colony  from  the  Plymouth  Company 
in  1622,  was  a Hampshire  man  in  England  and  he  named 
this  region  for  his  home  county.  Her  children  should  not 


4 


forget  the  names  of  Josiali  Bartlett,  William  Whipple  and 
Matthew  Thornton,  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. On  Jane  15,  1776,  New  Hampshire  adopted 
the  first  authoritative  statement  of  the  purpose  to  cast 
off  allegiance  to  Great  Britain.  The  Assembly  on  June 
11  appointed  a committee  to  draft  a declaration,  which 
was  adopted,  as  follows : 

“We  do  hereby  declare  that  it  is  the  opinion  of 
this  Assembly  that  our  delegates  at  the  Continental 
Congress  should  be  instructed,  and  these  are  hereby 
instructed  to  join  with  the  other  colonies  in  declaring 
the  thirteen  United  Colonies  a free  and  independent 
state,  solemnly  pledging  our  faith  and  honor  that  we 
will,  on  our  part,  support  the  measure  with  our  lives 
and  fortunes.” 

Politically,  by  this  act,  and  physically  at  the  battles 
of  Bunker  Hill  and  Bennington,  New  Hampshire  proved 
her  loyalty  and  was  of  great  help  at  the  beginning  of  the 
struggle  for  independence.  On  December  14-15,  1774, 
two  New  Hampshire  men,  John  Sullivan  and  John  Lang- 
don,  captured  the  fort  at  New  Castle  and  removed  the 
powder  and  arms.  It  was  partly  with  this  powder — 
about  one  hundred  barrels— that  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill  was  won. 

New  Hampshire  men  fought  at  Lexington  and  Con- 
cord and  one  of  the  first  to  ride  to  Cambridge  and  com- 
mand a regiment  was  John  Stark,  the  hero  of  Benning- 
ton. 

On  May  20,  1775,  New  Hampshire  voted  to  raise  three 
regiments,  and  by  June  1,  1775,  more  than  2,000  men  were 
under  arms.  There  were  three  New  Hampshire  regi- 
ments stationed  just  outside  of  Boston  and  New  Hamp- 
shire men  under  Stark  and  Reed  held  the  left  flank  behind 
the  famous  fence  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Out  of 
1,137  New  Hampshire  men  in  that  battle,  107  were  killed 
or  wounded.  Doctor  Samuel  Langdon,  a New  Hampshire 
man,  was  then  President  of  Harvard  College,  and  he 
blessed  the  troops  before  the  battle. 


5 


It  was  Jolm  Stark  who  raised  in  New  Hampshire  the 
little  army  that  went  over  into  Vermont  and  won  the 
battle  of  Bennington,  where  out  of  1,750  men,  1,000  were 
lrora  this  State.  At  that  fight  he  made  equally  famous 
his  wife  Elizabeth,  a daughter  of  Captain  Page  of  Dun- 
barton, N.  H.,  whom  he  called  Molly.  Thinking  of  her,  he 
cried,  as  the  British  lines  advanced,  “I’ll  gain  this  vic- 
tory or  Molly  Stark  will  be  a widow.” 

John  Langdon’s  speech  in  the  Legislature  at  Exeter 
before  the  battle  of  Bennington  is  unique.  He  said: 

“I  have  3,000  dollars  in  hard  money;  my  plate 
shall  be  pledged  for  as  much  more ; my  seventy  hogs- 
heads of  Tobago  rum  shall  be  sold  for  the  most  they 
will  fetch.  These  are  at  the  service  of  the  State;  if 
we  succeed  I shall  be  remunerated;  if  not,  they  will 
be  of  no  use  to  me.” 

John  Paul  Jones’  first  ship,  the  “Ranger,”  was  built 
by  Jolm  Langdon  and  fitted  out  at  Portsmouth  and  most 
of  her  officers  and  men  were  from  this  State.  During  the 
Revolution  New  Hampshire  maintained  three  regiments 
in  Washington’s  army. 

For  the  Mexican  War,  a company  was  recruited  in 
Concord  in  which  Franklin  Pierce,  afterwards  President, 
enlisted.  Many  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates 
of  Companies  C and  H of  the  Ninth  Regiment  of  the 
Regular  Army,  part  of  General  Winfield  Scott’s  expedi- 
tion, were  New  Hampshire  men. 

In  the  Civil  War,  New  Hampshire  furnished  31,426 
of  her  sons  for  the  Union  cause.  Of  these  1,538  were 
killed  or  died  of  wounds,  2,541  died  of  disease  and  285 
were  reported  as  missing  at  the  end  of  the  war.  New 
Hampshire  raised  her  first  regiment  in  ten  days  and  had 
her  men  at  Bull  Run.  One  of  her  regiments,  the  Second, 
lost  three-fifths  of  its  men  at  Gettysburg.  This  brief  re- 
cital shows  that  New  Hampshire  has  always  responded 
nobly  when  it  became  necessary  to  fight  for  the  nation. 


6 


Great  Men  In  addition,  she  lias  furnished  to  the 

Born  in  country  a large  number  of  notable  men, 

New  Hampshire,  among  them : 

Daniel  Webster,  orator  and  states- 
man, born  in  Salisbury,  1782. 

Charles  Anderson  Dana,  famous  editor  of  the  Net v 
York  Sun,  born  in  Hinsdale,  1819. 

John  P.  Hale,  statesman,  born  in  Rochester,  1806. 
The  first  anti-slavery  Senator  and  the  pioneer  cham- 
pion of  the  Free  Soil  Movement;  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  Free  Soil  Party  in  1852. 

Salmon  P.  Chase,  born  in  Cornish,  1808,  and  later 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  and  presided  at 
the  impeachment  trial  of  President  Johnson. 

John  A.  Dix,  born  in  Boscawen,  1798,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  under  Buchanan.  Later  Governor 
of  New  York.  He  gave  the  famous  command,  “If 
anybody  attempts  to  haul  down  the  United  States 
flag  shoot  him  on  the  spot.” 

William  Pitt  Fessenden,  born  in  Boscawen,  1806. 
Statesman  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Lin- 
coln. 

Horace  Greeley,  famous  editor  of  the  New  York 
Tribune,  born  in  Amherst,  1811. 

Henry  Wilson,  born  in  Farmington,  1812.  Vice- 
President  with  Grant  and  famous  abolitionist. 

Franklin  Pierce,  born  in  Hillsborough,  1804. 
Lawyer,  soldier  and  President. 

Daniel  Chester  French,  bom  in  Exeter,  1850. 
Famous  sculptor.  One  of  his  best  known  works  is 
that  of  the  Minute  Men  at  Concord. 

New  Hampshire’s  most  famous  woman  of  later 
days  was  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy,  born  in  Bow.  This 
New  Hampshire  girl  founded  the  religion  of  Chris- 
tian Science,  which  to-day  is  represented  in  every 
State  and  in  many  foreign  countries.  Her  book  long 
ago  reached  its  four  hundredth  edition. 


7 


So  New  Hampshire  has  furnished  a goodly  share  of 
strong  men  and  women  for  the  work  of  developing  the 
whole  country — a tribute  to  the  general  character  of  her 
citizenship. 

The  Among  the  problems  of  national  irnpor- 

Transportation  tance  to  be  solved,  if  we  are  to  continue 
Problem.  to  advance,  is  one  of  particular  interest 

to  New  England  and  one  in  which  I am 
engaged— namely,  the  transportation  problem.  This 
country  could  not  have  grown  from  its  four  millions  to 
its  one  hundred  millions  without  transportation  facilities. 
Their  proper  relations  to  the  nation,  State  and  individual 
require  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  all. 

Cadmus  is  said  to  have  invented  the  first  alphabet  in 
1550  B.  C.  Lord  Macaulay  speaks  of  this  invention  and 
of  transportation  as  follows : 

“Of  all  inventions,  the  alphabet  and  the  printing 
press  alone  excepted,  those  inventions  which  abridge 
distance  have  done  most  for  the  civilization  of  our 
species.  Every  improvement  of  the  means  of  loco- 
motion benefits  mankind  morally  and  intellectually 
as  well  as  materially,  and  not  only  facilitates  the  in- 
terchange of  the  various  productions  of  nature  and 
art,  but  tends  to  remove  national  and  provincial  an- 
tipathies, and  to  bind  together  all  the  branches  of  the 
great  human  family.” 

When  Macaulay  wrote  that,  about  1850,  he  little  real- 
ized what  would  be  the  railroad  conditions  sixty-five 
years  later.  In  his  time  a speed  of  12  miles  an  hour  by 
a railroad  train  was  marvelous.  Compare  that  with 
trains  running  60  and  70  miles  an  hour  on  some  of  the 
railroads  to-day.  Locomotives  were  then  very  small, 
weighing  from  12  to  20  tons.  It  would  be  possible  to 
place  the  small  t}^pe  of  locomotive  then  used  inside  the 
fire-box  of  one  of  the  present-day  engines.  Passenger 
coaches  were  flimsy  and  uncomfortable.  No  adequate 
comparison  can  be  made  between  them  and  the  all-steel, 
electrically  lighted,  luxurious  coaches  of  to-dav,  which 


8 


are  being  provided  as  rapidly  as  the  roads  can  get  the 
money  with  which  to  buy  them. 

Freight  cars  were  then  also  very  small.  As  much  can 
be  carried  in  one  of  the  modern  freight  cars  as  was  hauled 
in  one  of  the  freight  trains  of  twelve  cars  in  the  early 
days  of  railroading  in  this  country. 

Most  people,  however,  do  not  realize  the  magnitude, 
complexity  and  enormous  energy  of  a railroad.  They  ex- 
pect it  to  do  its  work  well  and  they  complain  when  it  does 
not.  It  looks  simple  and  easy  to  see  a train  passing 
through  the  landscape.  The  railroad  is  really  a very  deli- 
cately adjusted  piece  of  machinery  that  can  quickly  be- 
come inadequate  and  unsatisfactory,  and  when  out  of 
gear  it  takes  a long  time  to  readjust  it.  In  the  United 
States  there  were,  in  1914,  252,959  miles  of  railroad,  or 
8.51  miles  for  every  100  square  miles  of  territory  and  one 
mile  of  railroad  for  every  391  people.  The  total  revenues 
of  the  roads  for  that  year  were  $3,047,019,908  and  the  ex- 
penses $2,196,754,000,  and  the  balance,  $850,265,908,  was 
returned  to  the  people  in  the  shape  of  taxes, -interest  and 
a limited  amount  of  dividends. 

The  railroads  furnish  enough  passenger  transporta- 
tion in  a year  to  give  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the 
country  a ride  of  350  miles,  and  freight  transportation 
equal  to  hauling  2,000  pounds  of  freight  2,887  miles  for 
every  person  in  the  United  States,  as  compared  with 
2,000  pounds  carried  per  person  in  the 


United  Kingdom 286  miles 

Austria-Hungary 318  miles 

France  365  miles 

Germany  582  miles 


Billions  Paid  An  interesting  and  important  statement 
in  Wages.  of  how  the  railroads  of  the  country  enter 

into  the  lives  of  millions  of  our  citizens  is 
made  by  computations  just  completed  by  the  Bureau  of 
Railway  Economics.  The  momentous  fact  is  brought  out 
in  these  computations  that  from  June  30,  1905,  to  June 
30,  1914,  inclusive,  $11,218,686,516  were  paid  for  wages 


9 


to  an  average  of  1,611,105  men  employed  during  each  of 
the  ten  years,  as  follows : 


Per  Cent. 


Year 

Number  of 
Employees 

Wages 

1914. . 

. 1,695,483 

$1,373,422,472 

1913.  . 

. 1,815,239 

1,373,830,589 

1912.  . 

. 1,716,380 

1,252,347,697 

1911 . . 

. 1,669,809 

1,208,466,470 

1910.  . 

. 1,699,420 

1,143,725,306 

1909 . . 

. 1,502,823 

988,323,694 

1908.  . 

. 1,436,275 

1,035,437,528 

1907.  . 

. 1,672,074 

1,072,386,427 

1906. . 

. 1,521,355 

930,801,653 

1905.  . 

. 1,382,196 

839,944,680 

of  Wages 
Gross  to  Gross 

Kevenue  Revenue 


$3,047,019,908  45.07 
3,125,135,798  43.96 
2,842,695,382  44.05 
2,789,761,669  43.32 
2,752,634,153  41.55 
2,419,299,638  40.85 
2,394,780,410  43.24 
2,589,105,578  41.42 
2,325,765,167  40.02 
2,082,482,406  40.33 


The  large  proportion  of  gross  earnings  paid  directly 
to  these  millions  of  our  citizens  is  worthy  of  special  at- 


tention. 


Those  who  man  the  railroads  received  40.33  per  cent, 
out  of  every  dollar  of  gross  earnings  in  1905  and  45.07  in 
1914.  They  perform  arduous  and  responsible  duties  and 
should  he  well  paid;  but  with  increases  in  pay  to  the  men 
and  improved  facilities  to  the  public  should  come  in- 
creased pay  to  the  railroads,  and  this  has  not  been  the 
case  until  the  last  year  when  some  increases  in  rates  have 
been  permitted. 

Freight  Rates  The  American  roads  perform  a greater 
Here  and  Abroad,  work  in  moving  the  products  of  this 
country  than  do  the  roads  of  any  other 
country  and  they  do  it  for  less.  These  are  the  average 
rates  charged  for  handling  2,000  pounds  of  freight  one 
mile : 


United  Kingdom 2.39  cents 

Germany 1.37  cents 

France 1.30  cents 

Russia  1.17  cents 

Austria  1.45  cents 

Sweden  1.65  cents 

Norway r 1.60  cents 

New  South  Wales 1.76  cents 

South  Australia 1.94  cents 

United  States 7.29  mills 


10 


There  are  possibly  1,500,000  individuals  holding  the 
securities,  in  one  form  or  another,  of  the  American  rail- 
roads. They  and  the  employees  and  their  families  repre- 
sent at  least  12,000,000  people  whose  daily  bread  and  but- 
ter is  involved  in  the  success  or  failure  of  this  great 
American  transportation  machine,  or  about  one-eighth 
of  the  population.  The  par  of  the  outstanding  capital  is 
$20,247,301,257  or  between  one-nintli  and  one-tenth  of  the 
estimated  national  wealth.  In  New  England  the  owners 
and  employees  of  its  transportation  lines  with  their  fam- 
ilies represent  at  least  700,000  people,  or  more  than  one- 
tenth  of  the  total  population.  These  people  are  your 
neighbors  and  friends,  and  their  rights,  comforts  and 
feelings  must  he  carefully  considered  in  any  discussion 
as  to  the  best  method  of  solving  the  New  England  trans- 
portation problem. 

To  quote  again  from  Lord  Macaulay,  this  great  piece 
of  machinery  “ * * * benefits  mankind  morally  and  in- 
tellectually, as  well  as  materially,  * * * tends  to  re- 

move national  and  provincial  antipathies  and  to  bind 
together  all  the  branches  of  the  great  human  family.” 

A very  grave  question  to-day  is  whether  under  pres- 
ent conditions  the  railroads  can  he  ready  to  serve  the 
people  when  the  next  great  uplift  in  business  comes.  It 
is  not  only  a material  question  but  a social  and  moral  one. 
Speaking  recently  of  the  railroad  problem  of  to-day,  Pro- 
fessor Seligman,  of  Columbia  University,  said:  “To  com- 
bine the  maintenance  of  reasonable  private  profits  with 
the  legitimate  demands  of  social  progress  is  the  railway 
problem  of  to-day.” 

Railroads  in  To-day  from  one  cause  or  another  more 
Receivers’  than  30,000  miles  of  railroads  with  se- 

Hands.  curities  of  $1,815,900,000  are  in  the 

hands  of  receivers  and  several  other 
great  railroads  are  on  the  ragged  edge.  In  1896,  when 
times  were  so  very  bad,  there  were  about  the  same  num- 
ber of  miles  and  the  same  amount  of  capitalization  in  the 
hands  of  receivers.  This,  it  is  needless  to  say,  is  not  a 
healthy  condition  for  the  country. 


11 


Notwithstanding  all  the  complaints  made  against  our 
railroads  the  fact  remains  that  they  pay  the  highest 
wages  and  sell  their  transportation  at  the  lowest  prices 
and  furnish  more  per  dollar  invested  than  any  railroads 
of  any  country  in  the  world.  We  should  compliment  the 
railroads  for  this  and  be  proud  of  them.  Instead,  of  late 
years,  we  have  attacked  them  and  have  criticized  this 
wonderful  transportation  machinery  while  those  in  other 
lands  have  realized  that  the  work  of  the  American  rail- 
road builder,  owner  and  employee  has  been  marvelous; 
and  this  in  spite  of  the  mistakes  incident  to  the  great  task 
of  building  and  rebuilding  250,000  miles  of  railroad  since 
the  Civil  War. 

Foreign  Here  are  several  criticisms  from  notable 

Comment  on  foreign  authors  : 

Our  Railroads. 

Louis  Paul  Dubois,  in  “Cliemins  de 
Fer  aux  Etats  Unis,”  Paris,  1896: 

“The  marvelous  progress  achieved  by  the  trans- 
portation industry  of  the  United  States  is  explained 
by  the  essential  role  the  railroads  have  played  in  the 
development  of  the  country  and  by  the  prepondera- 
ting influence  exercised  by  them  on  the  economic  life 
of  the  country.  It  is  truly  the  railroad  which  creates 
the  country  and  it  is  to  the  railroad  that  Americans 
owe  the  prodigious  increase  in  the  national  develop- 
ment. And  they  owe  to  it  another  thing.  In  their 
immense  territories,  where  natural  resources  are  so 
varied,  the  progress  of  the  transportation  industry 
has  assured  each  region  the  maximum  utilization  of 
its  proper  forces  and  the  localizing  of  each  natural 
production  where  it  will  encounter  the  most  favor- 
able conditions.  The  extraordinary  development  of 
American  railroads  in  a half  a century  is  no  less  re- 
markable than  the  establishment  of  America’s 
colossal  empire  of  economic  and  financial  power. 
And  this  result  has  been  the  work  of  private  and  free 
initiative.” 


12 


W.  M.  Acworth,  English  economic  writer : 

“It  has  always  been  my  opinion  that  in  actual 
economy  of  operation  the  railways  of  the  United 
States  are  first  in  the  world.  In  the  number  of  tons 
per  car,  cars  per  train;  in  the  fullest  utilization  of 
locomotives;  in  the  obtaining  of  the  greatest  meas- 
ure result  for  each  unit  of  expenditure,  they  are  not 
equalled  by  the  railways  of  any  other  nation.” 

Pierre  Leroy-Beaulieu,  in  “The  United  States  in  the 
Twentieth  Century,  ’ ’ 1907 : 

“It  is  indeed  not  too  much  to  say  that  were  it  not 
for  the  railways  three-quarters  of  the  immense  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States,  far  removed  from  the  sea 
and  insufficiently  served  by  rivers  and  lakes,  would 
still  be  little  more  than  desert  and  would  be  scarcely 
more  influential  in  the  economic  life  of  the  world  than 
was  Siberia  before  the  construction  of  the  Trans- 
Siberian  Railway  began  to  galvanize  it  into  activity.” 

Claude  Cassimir-Perrier,  in  “The  Political  and  Par- 
liamentary Review,”  of  Paris,  1912: 

“In  no  other  part  of  the  world  have  the  circum- 
stances of  the  formation  of  railroad  lines  had  such  a 
profound  influence  upon  a country’s  development. 
This  enormous  country,  where  everything  is  in  pro- 
portion to  its  extent,  contains  to-day  400,000  kilo- 
meters of  railroad,  that  is  to  say,  30,000  kilometers 
more  than  all  Europe;  and  one  company  alone  tra- 
verses such  an  extent  of  territory  that  it  takes  an 
express  train  more  than  four  days  to  run  over  its 
principal  line.” 

High  American  Some  impartial  American  critics  realize 
Writers  on  the  situation  and  I quote  from  them: 

Our  Railroads. 

Merrill  W.  Caines,  Yale  Review, 

1910 : 

“In  population  we  have  one-sixteenth  of  the 
world’s  total  and  one-fourth  that  of  Europe.  Freight 


13 


transportation  per  capita  in  the  United  States  is 
thirty  times  the  world’s  average  and  nine  times 
Europe’s.  With  inland  coal,  iron  and  grain,  the 
land-bound  cities  scattered  across  a continent,  we 
live  by  means  of  railroads  we  have  built.  In  our  ma- 
terial development  they  have  always  been,  and 
always  will  be,  the  prime  force.  The  reclaimers  of 
waste  places,  the  builders  of  cities,  the  awakeners  of 
opportunity,  to  our  growth  as  a nation  their  growth 
is  still  essential.” 

Simon  Sterne,  “Encyclopedia  of  Political  Science”: 

“Of  all  the  factors  that  have  contributed  during 
this  century  to  the  growth  of  wealth,  to  the  increase 
of  material  comfort,  and  to  the  diffusion  of  informa- 
tion and  knowledge,  the  railway  plays  the  most  im- 
portant part.  It  has  widened  the  field  for  the  divi- 
sion of  employment;  it  has  cheapened  production,  it 
has  promoted  exchange  and  has  facilitated  intercom- 
munication. In  its  aggregate  it  represents  a larger 
investment  of  capital  than  any  other  branch  of  human 
activity ; and  the  service  that  it  renders  and  has  ren- 
dered to  society  is,  both  from  industrial  and  com- 
mercial points  of  view,  greater  than  is  rendered  by 
any  other  single  service  to  which  men  devote  their 
activities.” 

H.  S.  Haines,  “Problems  in  Railroad  Regulation”: 

“Consider  the  magnitude  of  this  system  (Ameri- 
can railroads).  Its  mileage  about  equals  the  ac- 
cepted distance  of  the  moon  from  the  earth.  Its  em- 
ployees number  about  one  out  of  every  twelve  of  our 
adult  male  population.  The  capital  invested  in  it  is 
estimated  to  represent  one-eiglitli  of  the  total  wealth 
of  the  country,  and  its  annual  revenues  to  be  three 
times  those  of  the  Federal  Government.  We  should 
recognize  that  this  system  has  not  been  super-added 
to  long  existing  means  of  internal  transportation.  It 
has  not  superseded  other  national  highways,  for 
there  were  none  others  before  it.  From  the  Atlantic 


14 


Coast,  hemmed  in  by  almost  continuous  ranges  of 
mountains,  it  opened  the  way  to  the  granaries  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley  and  of  the  Western  prairies, 
and  unlocked  the  treasure  vaults  hidden  deep  be- 
neath the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  has  reversed  the 
order  of  nature  by  diverting  the  course  of  trade  from 
those  extensive  regions,  against  the  mighty  currents 
flowing  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  has  deflected  that  course  to  our  At- 
lantic ports.  It  has  undone  the  work  of  Vasco  da 
Gama  and  of  Magellan,  and  has  given  to  the  route 
across  the  North  American  continent  that  commerce 
with  the  Orient  which  the  Portuguese  won  from 
Marco  Polo  and  the  Venetians.” 

Prof.  Emory  R.  Johnson,  in  “American  Railway 
Transportation  ’ ’ : 

“In  1880  there  were  93,296  miles  of  railroad  in 
the  United  States.  In  1890  there  were  163,597 ; 
70,000  miles  of  railroad  were  built  in  a single  decade. 
This  marvelous  achievement  is  unparalleled  in  the 
economic  history  of  any  other  country  in  the  world. 
Within  ten  years  the  people  of  the  United  States 
built  as  many  miles  of  railroad  as  the  people  of  the 
three  leading  countries  had  constructed  in  fifty  years. 
With  the  exception  of  agriculture,  there  is  no  single 
industry  that  equals  the  railroads  in  the  amount  of 
invested  capital  and  in  the  value  of  the  annual  busi- 
ness done.” 

The  Comptroller  of  the  Currency  said  in  his  recent 
annual  report  that  there  were  11,000,000  depositors  in 
savings  hanks  with  $5,000,000,000  to  their  credit.  Much 
of  this  large  sum  is  invested  by  these  banks  in  railroad 
securities,  so  that  those  11,000,000  people  have  a very 
vital  interest  in  having  the  railroad  industry  sound  and 
profitable.  The  conservation  of  this  industry  is  vital  to 
the  country,  and  owners  and  managers  should  he  helped 
rather  than  hindered  in  their  honest  efforts  to  make  it 
more  useful  and  efficient. 


15 


Are  the  Rail-  The  time  at  our  disposal  in  which  to  pre- 
roads Prepared  pare  for  the  additional  growth  of  the 

for  the  Country’s  country  is  short,  for  can  anyone  believe 
Further  Growth?  that  the  United  States,  with  100,000,000 
people,  with  $10,000,000,000  of  new  agri- 
cultural wealth  produced  each  year,  and  nearly 
$18,000,000,000  in  banks  and  savings  institutions,  is  to 
standstill1?  Of  course,  it  is  not.  It  is  going  ahead  again, 
and  people  will  want  coal,  iron,  steel,  lumber  and  mer- 
chandise and  manufactured  articles  moved  in  greater 
quantities  in  the  next  ten  years  than  ever  before.  To  do 
this  transportation  must  be  available,  and  the  machinery 
for  producing  it  cannot  be  created  over  night,  but  must 
be  prepared  ahead  of  time. 

Why  is  it  that  this  piece  of  machinery,  which  all  admit 
is  so  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  country,  which  im- 
partial critics  think  is  such  a wonderful  work,  which 
represents  so  large  a part  of  the  wealth  and  population  of 
the  country  and  is  so  closely  interwoven  with  all  of  our 
activities,  has  been  looked  upon  with  suspicion  and  dis- 
favor? Whenever  a new  railroad  has  been  projected  the 
people  have  welcomed  the  promoters  and  offered  all  kinds 
of  inducements — but  when  the  road  is  built  they  forget 
that  it  must  be  nourished  in  order  to  live. 

One  reason  for  this  suspicion  and  disfavor,  perhaps, 
is  a lack  of  understanding  on  the  part  of  the  public  as  to 
the  magnitude  of  the  enterprise  and  the  difficulties  of  suc- 
cessful administration.  Much  has  been  written  and  said 
by  many  to  try  and  explain  it.  In  the  last  ten  years  I 
have  sent  out  over  1,000,000  pamphlets  pointing  out  the 
facts,  and  others  have  done  similar  work. 


Interesting  Take  the  New  Haven  Road  alone.  Here 
Data  on  the  are  a few  interesting  figures : 

New  Haven.  The  raqs  ^ track  contain  70,000 

more  tons  of  steel  than  is  in  all  the 
United  States  battleships. 

To  make  them  would  require  iron  from  a 400-ton 


16 


blast  furnace  working  five  years,  five  months  and 
twenty-five  days. 

The  rails  placed  end  to  end  would  go  39  per  cent, 
around  the  earth  at  the  equator. 

The  ties  in  the  track,  placed  end  to  end,  would  go 
83  per  cent,  around  the  earth  at  the  equator. 

It  would  take  45,800  acres  of  timber  land  of  the 
average  found  in  Connecticut  ten  years  to  produce 
this  amount  of  lumber. 

Each  hour  freight  cars  move  on  this  railroad 
28,070  miles.  Passenger  cars  9,564  miles;  locomo- 
tives 2,794  miles. 

The  road  employs  about  36,000  people  and  pays 
out  annually  $30,540,000  in  wages. 

It  furnishes  freight  and  passenger  transporta- 
tion every  day  to  about  300,000  people,  and  in  addi- 
tion thereto,  handles  a very  large  amount  of  mail, 
parcel  post  and  express. 

And  yet  this  New  Haven  Eoad,  large  and  important 
as  it  is,  represents  in  earnings  only  about  one-fiftieth  of 
the  railroad  business  of  the  United  States. 

The  Railroad  The  railroad  is  a great  manufacturing 
a Great  plant,  turning  out  its  product,  transpor- 

Manufacturing  tation,  for  the  benefit  of  all  other  manu- 
Plant.  facturers  and  people.  The  transporta- 

tion business  of  New  England  represents 
in  round  figures  a billion  dollars  in  capital,  while  the  man- 
ufacturing business  represents  $2,670,000,000,  and  they 
are  absolutely  interdependent.  One  cannot  succeed  with- 
out the  success  of  the  other. 

Another  reason  for  the  suspicion  and  disfavor  is  that 
in  the  struggle  to  build  railroads  and  to  make  fortunes  in 
the  process  a few  men — and  only  a very  few  of  the  thou- 
sands of  high-minded  men  in  the  business — did  things 
that  are  not  now  considered  right  and  proper — and  were 
not  right  and  proper  then — but  were  in  accord  with  the 
accepted  spirit  of  the  times.  Similar  practices  were  in 
vogue  in  other  fields  of  human  endeavor.  Railroad  men 
are  not  more  perfect  than  other  business  men.  They  are 


17 


drawn  from  all  ranks  of  society  and  are  influenced  by  the 
trend  of  public  opinion.  In  spite  of  all,  however,  a great 
work  was  done  and  the  railroads,  as  a whole,  are  worth 
to-day  to  themselves  and  to  the  public,  all  their  capitali- 
zation. I believe  a fair  valuation  of  the  properties,  fol- 
lowing the  principles  laid  down  in  various  decisions  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  will  show  this  to 
be  the  case.  This  wonderful  machine  that  serves  the 
country  should  not  be  condemned,  crippled  and  rendered 
unable  to  prepare  for  the  future  because  of  a limited 
amount  of  unwise  financing  and  unsuccessful  manage- 
ment in  the  past. 

Let  me  quote  from  a writer  of  the  present  day.  He 

says : 

“Let’s  get  down  to  common  sense.  The  railways 
have  done  more  toward  making  America  than  any 
other  one  thing.  It  is  time  they  had  their  due  and 
instead  of  baiting  them  and  talking  foolish  talk  about 
taking  them  away  from  their  owners  the  Government 
should  grant  them  any  request  within  reason.” 

Capital  Another  of  our  problems  is  that  of  the 

Organizations.  proper  treatment  of  capital  organiza- 
tions, or  corporations.  The  great  rail- 
roads that  are  such  efficient  servants  of  the  nation  could 
not  have  been  constructed  without  them.  In  1800  tlie 
total  number  of  corporations  in  this  country  was  225,  and 
to-day  there  are  350,000.  They  are  necessary  to  carry  on 
the  great  business  of  the  United  States.  Because  they 
were  a new  and  untried  method  of  doing  the  business  of 
the  country  some  errors  were  made.  Men  obtained  great 
power,  and  in  their  intense  desire  to  be  successful  some 
of  the  owners  and  managers  demanded  efficiency  without 
enough  consideration  of  the  human  unit  and  profits  re- 
gardless of  the  public  weal. 

This  policy  created  trouble,  but  owners  and  managers 
are  awake  to  the  situation  to-day  and  realize  that  they 
must  pay  close  attention  to  their  duty  to  the  public. 

Large  and  strong  corporations,  wisely  managed,  are 


18 


absolutely  necessary,  and  bad  ones  are  gradually  being 
eliminated.  A few  strong  and  ambitious  men  used  the 
great  powers  of  corporations  unwisely,  and  as  a result 
the  country  was  aroused  against  them  and  all  sorts  of 
laws  were  passed  in  an  effort  to  correct  evils,  and,  as  is 
often  the  case,  some  of  the  remedies  were  worse  than  the 
disease. 

There  are  signs  now  that  we  are  approaching  the  time 
when  the  country  will  obtain  the  full  benefit  of  the  cor- 
porate form  of  doing  business,  without  the  evils. 

Labor  Another  great  problem  before  the  coun- 

Organizations.  try  is  that  of  the  labor  organizations. 

They  are  a part  of  our  complex  social 
machinery,  but  they  have  not  yet  found  their  place.  In 
the  struggle  to  create  the  great  railroads  and  the  great 
corporations  the  relation  of  labor  to  them  was  not,  at 
times,  carefully  enough  considered.  As  a result,  laboring 
men  united,  and  little  by  little  the  great  labor  organiza- 
tions were  developed  and  they  now  have  very  large 
powers.  But  just  as  the  people  took  notice  of  the  errors 
of  the  capital  organizations,  or  so-called  trusts,  when 
they  believed  that  they  were  ignoring  the  public  welfare 
and  passed  the  various  regulatory  measures  in  an  effort 
to  eliminate  the  bad  and  retain  the  good,  so  will  the  conn- 
try  in  time  consider  the  problem  of  the  labor  organiza- 
tions and  correct  any  errors  in  them. 

The  great  leaders  of  capital,  as  I say,  obtained  tre- 
mendous power  which  has  been  curtailed  and  regulated 
by  law.  The  time  will  come  when  the  great  unregulated 
powers  now  exercised  by  the  leaders  of  the  great  labor 
organizations  will  be  regulated.  I believe  the  majority 
of  our  people  feel  that  when  a man  earns  his  living  by 
working  for  a public  service  corporation  he  enters  into  a 
moral  contract  to  do  that  work  upon  which  the  whole 
people  depend  until  he  is  mustered  out  of  his  place  in 
some  orderly  manner;  that  he  owes  that  duty  to  society 
just  as  much  as  a soldier  owes  a duty  to  remain  in  the 
army  until  he  is  released  in  a lawful  manner.  I further 
believe  that  sooner  or  later  some  plan  will  be  evolved  by 


19 


public  opinion  that  will  bring  about  a satisfactory  adjust- 
ment of  this  great  and  complicated  labor  problem. 

The  Deluge  of  Another  present-day  problem  is  that  of 
Legislation.  legislation.  Because  of  some  mistakes 
by  railroad  owners  and  managers,  and 
by  those  engaged  in  other  forms  of  corporate  business, 
the  suspicion  and  disfavor,  of  which  I have  spoken,  devel- 
oped, and  a class  of  critics  has  grown  up  in  this  country 
who  have  made  a living  by  agitation  and  by  advocating 
unnecessary  legislation. 

Probably  a large  number  of  the  alleged  evils  would 
have  gradually  corrected  themselves  and  the  country 
would  be  far  better  off  with  less  instead  of  more  laws. 
For  example,  in  1913  1,395  bills  were  introduced  into  the 
Legislatures  of  the  various  States  and  230  became  laws, 
all  relating  to  the  details  of  practical  railroad  operation, 
most  of  which  would  be  better  left  to  the  men  trained  in 
the  business. 

There  are  about  4,000  legislators,  National  and  State, 
and  during  the  1913  sessions  of  the  National  and  State 
Legislatures  43,403  pages  of  laws  were  enacted,  covering 
20,510  chapters  and  151,083  heads  or  sub-heads. 

During  this  same  period  there  were  28,000  decisions 
by  courts  of  appeal,  and  these  decisions  have  the  force  of 
statutory  law. 

With  this  deluge  of  legislation  affecting  all  kinds  of 
business  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  country  staggers 
and  cannot  go  ahead  with  constructive  work. 

A well-known  Western  lawyer,  in  a recent  address  at 
Peoria,  111.,  spoke  on  this  subject,  and  said: 

“We  need  less  investigations.  Less  law. 

“Everything  and  everybody  is  being  investi- 
gated. This  espionage  creates  great  unrest  and  busi- 
ness disturbance  and  disorder.  It  produces  equal 
dissatisfaction  among  the  masses.  Every  industry  is 
on  the  grill.  These  conditions  have  not  lowered  the 
price  of  commodities  nor  benefited  the  people,  but 
they  have  hurt  commerce  and  industry. 


20 


“All  this  is  a great  waste — waste  of  time,  waste 
of  energy — and  what  is  worse,  destruction  of  con- 
fidence. The  confidence  of  the  masses  is  easily  shat- 
tered, and  it  is  difficult  to  be  restored.” 

Patriotism.  What  can  the  patriotic  citizen  do  to  help? 

I believe  enough  in  the  latent  loyalty  of 
the  American  people  to  think  that  should  we  be  unfor- 
tunate enough  to  have  another  foreign  war  the  country 
would  be  aflame  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  that  all 
would  rally  to  the  support  of  the  flag  and  live  up  to 
Stephen  Decatur’s  sentiment: 

“Our  country,  in  her  intercourse  with  foreign 
nations,  may  she  always  he  in  the  right,  but  our 
country,  right  or  wrong.” 

War  is  spectacular  and  appeals  to  the  imagination  of 
the  young  and  adventurous,  and  it  is  to  he  hoped  that  we 
will  ever  train  the  youth  to  revere  the  flag,  respect  the 
Federal  authority  and  when  necessary  to  fight  for  the 
country.  We  must  give  evidence  of  loyalty  at  all  times, 
and  regardless  of  the  great  struggle  of  life  and  the  desire 
for  material  gain,  realize  that  we  have  a flag  and  country 
and  Government  which  needs  our  thoughtful  affection, 
sentiment  and  support,  not  only  on  the  Fourth  of  July 
and  Washington’s  Birthday,  hut  every  day  of  the  year. 

We  should  not  forget,  in  the  hurry  and  worry  of  daily 
life,  that  we  owe  a duty  at  all  times  to  serve  the  country 
that  has  made  possible  living  conditions  which  are  un- 
equalled by  any  in  the  world. 

The  very  fact  that  our  material  progress  has  been  so 
great  should  mean  that  patriotic  men  should  put  self 
aside  at  least  part  of  the  time  and  use  their  energies  to 
evoke  a sane  public  opinion  that  will  solve  some  problems 
that  are  even  more  difficult  of  solution  than  that  of 
war. 

We  have  the  greatest  educational  system  ever  devel- 
oped, in  our  public  and  private  schools  and  colleges,  and 
the  men  receiving  the  benefit  of  this  system  should  be 
leaders  of  sound  and  sane  thought  and  in  patriotic  effort. 


21 


It  is  said  that  three  little  hooks  are  carried  by  the 
German  soldier — his  prayer-book,  his  pay-book  and  his 
song-book.  It  is  also  said  that  an  English  woman  excused 
herself  for  her  sudden  pallor  on  hearing  that  war  was 
declared  with  Germany,  saying:  “I  am  not  afraid  of 
their  numbers,  nor  of  their  guns,  nor  of  their  perfect  or- 
ganization, but  I am  afraid  of  their  songs.”  In  other 
words,  the  loyal  spirit  of  the  Germans  in  the  love  of  their 
Fatherland  has  been  kept  alive  by  the  singing  of  their 
songs. 

There  was  a naval  parade  in  New  York  recently,  and 
patriotism  was  evident.  Thousands  of  New  York’s  cos- 
mopolitan population  showed  great  enthusiasm,  and  yet 
it  has  sometimes  been  said  that  the  foreign-born  popula- 
tion of  our  country  look  upon  the  Government  and  people 
as  purely  commercial.  This  may  not  be  correct. 

A number  of  years  ago  it  was  suggested  to  the  late 
Edward  G.  Gilmore,  owner  of  the  Academy  of  Music  in 
New  York,  that  the  orchestra  play  at  the  close  of  every 
performance  either  “My  Country  ’Tis  of  Thee,”  “The 
Star-Spangled  Banner”  or  “Columbia.”  “No,”  replied 
Gilmore,  “the  Academy  of  Music  is  in  the  center  of  the 
foreign-born  population  in  New  York,  at  East  Fourteenth 
Street  and  Third  Avenue.  There  are  nearly  a million 
Jews,  Poles,  Slavs,  Italians,  Hungarians  and  Greeks,  and 
they  have  no  interest  in  the  country;  they  come  here 
simply  for  what  they  can  make  out  of  it,  and  they  only 
attend  my  performances  because  the  price  is  cheap.” 

Gilmore  was  urged  to  make  the  experiment,  and  did 
so.  At  every  performance  those  in  the  Academy  rose  and 
cheered  the  national  patriotic  songs  as  the  orchestra 
played  them.  Gilmore  in  his  last  illness  regretted  that 
he  had  not  begun  this  custom  years  before. 

Another  incident  refers  to  George  M.  Cohan,  the  the- 
atrical manager  and  playwright  in  New  York  City,  who 
began  his  career  by  waving  and  having  his  fellow-players 
wave  the  American  flag  in  every  play  introduced  in  his 
various  houses  in  New  York.  Cohan  made  a fortune,  but 
in  this  matter  his  patriotism  was  the  actuating  motive, 
and  he  wished  to  show,  just  as  Gilmore  did,  that  the 


22 


people  of  the  great  city  of  New  York,  representing  all  tlie 
nations  of  the  earth,  are  Americans  and  patriotic. 

All  Must  Be  We  should  speak  only  of  Americans,  be- 
Americans.  cause  no  true  American  is  a hyphenated 

American,  and  many  of  the  Americans 
born  of  American  parents,  whose  ancestors  for  a hundred 
years  or  more  have  been  Americans,  should  take  the  lead 
in  patriotism  and  in  patriotic  action,  and  familiarize 
themselves  with  our  patriotic  songs. 

Those  who  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  inherit  the 
sentiment  and  traditions  of  the  native-born  American, 
with  native-born  ancestry,  should,  in  their  daily  lives,  do 
all  they  can  to  set  a good  example  for  our  new  citizens,  of 
sane  and  simple  living,  of  care  and  economy,  of  active 
and  efficient  work,  and  of  loyal  and  unselfish  support  to 
the  country.  If  we  do  that  we  will  find  a constantly  in- 
creasing growth  of  real  patriotism  and  an  entire  disap- 
pearance of  any  class  of  Americans  who  put  a qualifying 
word  before  the  name. 

Would  it  not  be  a good  plan  to  have  patriotic  songs 
played  every  Saturday  on  the  village  green  or  in  the  city 
square?  To  have  the  salute  of  the  flag  a regular  part  of 
the  civic  duty  once  a week?  So  that  the  foreigners  who 
come  here  to  make  their  homes  and  the  children  of  all  our 
citizens  may  see  an  actual  demonstration  of  the  Federal 
authority  and  learn  to  love  and  revere  the  flag  that  is  a 
symbol  of  it. 

The  cosmopolitan  character  of  our  people  is  a prob- 
lem, not  only  from  a governmental  but  also  from  a ma- 
terial standpoint,  but  we  should  not  be  afraid  of  it  and  we 
should  not  magnify  it. 

Our  Large  One  person  in  every  seven  in  the  United 

Foreign-Born  States  was  born  outside  its  borders,  the 
Population.  total  of  our  foreign-born  population 
being  13,500,000,  which  is  about  equal  to 
the  population  of  Belgium  and  Holland,  considering  Bel- 
gium before  the  war,  or  to  that  of  Norway,  Denmark  and 
Sweden  combined. 


23 


There  are  one-sixth  as  many  Canadians  here  as  in 
Canada,  and  one-half  million  more  Germans  than  in 
Berlin.  There  are  enough  Irish  to  make  four  Dublins 
and  enough  Italians  to  make  three  Homes.  5,250,000  im- 
migrants came  to  and  remained  in  the  United  States  in 
the  ten  years  ending  1910.  The  total  that  decade  was 
8,500,000,  hut  3,250,000  returned  home. 

Because  of  these  large  figures  there  is  a feeling  that 
our  foreign-born  population  is  rapidly  overcoming  in 
numbers  the  native-born.  The  census  figures,  however, 
show  the  contrary,  and  were  as  follows : 

Per  cent,  of  native-born  to  total  population : 


1860. 

1870 

1880 

1890 

1900 

1910 


86.8 

.85.6 

.86.7 

,85.3 

.86.4 

,85.3 


The  number  of  those  born  in  the  United  States  of 
United  States  parents  has  decreased  somewhat,  for  the 
percentages  of  this  class  were : 


1870 71.7 

1880 70.2 

1890 ■ 67.1 

1900 65.5 

1910 64.6 

On  the  other  hand,  the  percentage  of  foreign-born  in 
the  country  has  not  changed  much.  The  percentages  of 
these  to  the  total  population  were : 

1860 13.2 

1870 14.4 

1880 13.3 

1890 14.7 

1900 13.6 

1910 14.7 


This  country  has  been  called  “the  melting  pot  of  the 
nations,”  and  these  figures  indicate  that  it  is  doing  its 
work. 


24 


Americanization  I am  a firm  believer  in  the  Americaniza- 
Day  Movement,  tion  Day  movement.  Over  fifty  mayors 
of  onr  larger  cities  have  appointed 
Mayor’s  Committees  as  part  of  the  national  movement  to 
make  Independence  Day  “Americanization  Day.”  This 
movement  is  a patriotic  call  to  all  citizens,  American-born 
and  foreign-born  alike,  adults  and  children,  to  rally  to 
American  ideals,  purposes  and  common  interests  of  many 
people  united  into  one  nation. 

These  mayor’s  committees  represent  the  city  govern- 
ments, naturalization  officials,  boards  of  education,  city 
clubs,  women’s  patriotic  and  civic  organizations,  social 
agencies,  patriotic  societies,  and  benevolent  and  fraternal 
organizations  of  foreign-born  residents.  These  commit- 
tees arrange  citizenship  receptions  for  newly  naturalized 
citizens  and  a national  Americanization  Day  Committee 
assists  these  mayor’s  committees.  Speakers  all  over  this 
land  are  to-day  emphasizing  the  purpose  of  this  move- 
ment, as  follows: 

That  every  foreign-speaking  person  in  America 
should  learn  English  by  attending  the  public  schools,  be- 
cause the  English  language  is  the  master  key  to  American 
opportunities  and  life  and  the  first  step  to  real  citizen- 
ship; that  every  illiterate  emigrant  should  learn  to  read 
and  write,  so  that  he  can  read  American  newspapers  and 
attend  personally  to  his  business  matters;  and  that  adults 
and  children,  native  and  foreign-born,  be  given  civic 
training  in  both  evening  and  day  schools,  so  that  every- 
one in  our  country  will  understand  the  functions  and 
principles  of  our  Government. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  speaking  recently 
to  a large  assemblage  of  newly  naturalized  citizens  of 
this  country,  said : 

“If  you  come  into  this  great  nation,  as  you  have 
come,  voluntarily  seeking  something  that  we  have  to 
give,  all  that  we  have  to  give  is  this:  We  cannot  ex- 
empt you  from  work.  No  man  is  exempt  from  work 
anywhere  in  the  world.  I sometimes  think  he  is  for- 
tunate if  he  has  to  work  only  with  his  hands  and  not 


25 


with  his  head.  It  is  very  easy  to  do  what  other 
people  give  you  to  do,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  give 
other  people  things  to  do.  We  cannot  exempt  you 
from  work.  We  cannot  exempt  you  from  the  strife 
and  heart-breaking  burdens  of  the  struggle  of  the 
day — that  is  common  to  mankind  everywhere.  We 
cannot  exempt  you  from  the  loads  that  you  must 
carry.  We  can  only  make  them  light  by  the  spirit  in 
which  they  are  carried.  That  is  the  spirit  of  hope,  it 
is  the  spirit  of  liberty,  it  is  the  spirit  of  justice.” 

With  all  these  complicated  problems  confronting  us, 
it  is  our  duty  to  ourselves,  to  our  families,  to  all  associ- 
ated with  us  in  business,  to  our  country — to  be  utterly 
loyal  every  hour  of  our  lives.  This  is  our  plain  duty  as 
citizens  of  the  greatest  republic  in  history.  All  must  be 
patriotic  in  this  land  of  opportunity,  patriotic  to  its  insti- 
tutions and  loyal  to  advance  its  commercial  supremacy. 

So  let  us  one  and  all  on  this  day  consider  the  impor- 
tance of  loyalty  to  the  country  which  gives  us  the  oppor- 
tunity to  live  and  strive  and  work,  and  remember  what 
Webster  said  in  his  Bunker  Hill  oration : 

“Let  our  object  be  our  country,  our  whole  coun- 
try and  nothing  but  our  country,  and,  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  may  that  country  itself  become  a vast  and 
splendid  monument,  not  of  oppression  and  terror, 
but  of  wisdom,  of  peace,  and  of  liberty,  upon  which 
the  world  may  gaze  with  admiration  forever!” 


26 


